On Saturday, a clash broke out between BJP and TMC workers after the latter launched an unprovocative attack against the new entrants to the saffron party outside the BJP’s main election office in Hastings in Kolkata, West Bengal.
As per reports, the situation became tense when Sunil Mondol arrived at the BJP office. Prior to his arrival, the TMC workers had set up a stage near the saffron party’s office and began their protest. Although the police personnel tried to disperse the TMC mob, they were highly outnumbered. They ambushed the vehicle of the BJP leader, preventing him from stepping into the office.
Police is just B Team of Mamata.
— Akshay Singh (@iakshaysinghel) December 26, 2020
Today while Suvendu Adhikari and others MP’s/MLA who left TMC Party entering into BJP Party Office, TMC G0ons blocked their Car’s, Pelted stones on their vehicles. pic.twitter.com/40b5TjfTvb
A scuffle thus broke out between the two sides but the police failed to control the situation. Soon, additional police forces were deployed and the situation was pacified. It was only after that Sunil Mondol was able to step foot into the party office. Several BJP stalwarts such as MP Arjun Singh, Locket Chatterjee, Kailash Vijayavargiya and Dilip Ghosh eventually held meeting at their main election office in Hastings. They condemned the ‘planned conspiracy’ and alleged police complicity in the incident.
Political reactions on the incident
BJP MP Arjun Singh said, “Some TMC activists, who were participating in a programme there, blocked his car. They sat on the road to stop him from going to our office. They also banged the window panes, pelted his vehicle with stones.” Reacting strongly to the ambush of his car by TMC goons, Sunil Mondol said, “This only shows the true colour of the TMC. They don’t believe any democratic norm. Is this a way to treat a people’s representative.”
In his defence, TMC leader Saugata Roy claimed, “It was a spontaneous protest of the people of the area. Sunil has won the ticket twice from the TMC. He has betrayed our party. So the TMC supporters stopped his car and staged a spontaneous protest. Nothing was planned.”
BJP lodges complaint against the TMC
In a complaint to the Hastings police station, the BJP Vice- President (West Bengal) Pratap Banerjee stated, “This morning we were shocked to find that the ruling TMC party has set-up a stage right in front of our Hastings Party office. Today there are a few party meetings along with facilitation of many members. It is very clear that this provocative act of the TMC is with the sole purpose of disturbing the peace of the area and creating a law and order situation.”
The party emphasised, “We are very sure that this provocative act has been done with getting any prior approval of your police station as such permission in normal course could have been given. We call upon you to immediately take steps to have this stage removed, ensure that TMC do not hold any gathering of people and also deployment of appropriate deployment of force to maintain law and order.’
TMC leaders desert party to join the BJP
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal is in a state of political turmoil, with several heavyweight lawmakers deserting the party. A long list of TMC leaders, along with 4 others from the Left and Congress, joined the BJP, in the presence of BJP leader Amit Shah in Midnapore on December 19. Several MLAs and party leaders from TMC, Congress and left parties joined BJP along with Adhikari. The major leaders who joined BJP in West Bengal are:
- Burdwan Purba MP Sunil Mandal, TMC
- Former minister and Tamluk MLA Suvendu Adhikari, TMC
- Kanthi Uttar MLA Banasri Maity, TMC
- Kalna MLA Biswajeet Kundu, TMC
- East Bardhaman MLA Saikat Panja, TMC
- Barrackpore MLA Shilbhadra Datta, TMC
- Ghazole MLA Dipali Biswas, TMC
- Nagrakata MLA Shukra Munda, TMC
- Tamluk MLA Ashok Dinda, CPI
- Haldia MLA Tapashi Mandal, CPIM
- Purulia MLA Sudeep Mukherjee, Congress
- Former MP Dasharath Tirkey, TMC
- Ex minister Shyamapada Mukherjee, TMC
- Former MLA Satyen Roy, TMC
Apart from these, several panchayat-level lawmakers and ardent followers of TMC MLA Suvendu Adhikary are also joining BJP. They include Kaberi Chattopadhyay, Snehashish Bhowmik, Akashdeep Singh, Tanmoy Roy, Ranjan Vaidya, Dev Mohapatra and Sukumar Das. The saffron party will also be joined by Congress leaders such as Sudip Kumar Mukherjee and Sanmay Banerjee. Former vice-chancellor of Gour Banga university Gopal Mishra also joined BJP today. A large number of politicians from TMC and other parties also joined the party.
